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SORTING, GRADING 
AND CURING FURS 



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A. F. WALLACE 

Author "Land Cruising and Prospecting' 



PRICE— $1.00 



arllht^ — -iJE 



^ 



S 



WHEN 

LJ. S. A. 

Is marked on a bundle of 
furs it means that the furs 
are going to the 

Greatest Fur Market 

In The World. 

But even that does not insure 
THE BEST NET RESULTS UNLESS 

That undle is also marked 

F.C. TAILOR 

& CO. 

The house the best result come from. 



SORTING, GRADING 
AND CURING FURS 



J^r BY 



Af F/ WALLACE 

Author "Land Cruising and Prospe '' ig' 



PRICE, $1.00 







VP 



\ 



x^;^^ 



Copyright Feb. 19, 1910 

A. F. WALLACE 
Milwaukee 



■•Fv ■ 




CI.A275175 



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CONTENTS. 



Chapter 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
VII. 
VIII. 
IX. 
X. 
XI. 
XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 
XVIII. 
XIX. 
XX. 
XXI. 
XXII. 



Page 

Hints on Color, Quality and Size 7 

Pur Markets ^ 

Dressing and Coloring 16 

The Trapper's Viewpoint ■ 1^ 

The Buyer's Viewpoint 28 

Grading and Sorting Skunk 30 

Grading and Sorting the Weasel 35 

Grading and Sorting the Muskrat 37 

Grading and Sorting the Mink 41 

Grading and Sorting the Fisher 45 

Grading and Sorting the Otter 47 

Grading and Sorting the Marten 50 

Grading and Sorting the Pox 53 

Grading and Sorting the Coon 56 

Grading and Sorting the Possum 58 

The Lynx ^^ 

Bear and Mountain Lion, Moose, Etc 62 

Shedders, Etc ^^ 

Selling 6^ 

Stretching and Curing 75 

General Remarks. Sorting 80 

Northern vs. Southern Purs 86 



■;lg#^ 



INTRODUCTION. 




N writing this book I wish to be understood that 
I am neither buying or selling fur. That this 
book is intended to bring the buyer and seller 
in more closer relation to each other. Also to 
help to establish standard size for different kinds of fur, 
both as to size * and district from the which the fur 
was taken, the same as the furs are graded at the Lon- 
don and Leipsic sales, which seem to be the clearing 
houses in regard to price, and SHOULD be for size anu 
grade. In preparing these "hints" I have been a long 
time amd probed very thoroughly both the trapper's and 
buyer's side. Also the grading, coloring, dyeing etc. 
is from first hands, and straight from the grei' fur 

center of all, i. e. London, greatest market also fo. 
ing, curing, tanning, etc. There seems to be most 
wide a space between trapper and consumer. For in- 
stance a small mink collar, taking abv 3 or 4 hides, 
for which the trapper gets about $8.00 or $9.00, will 



* In the following pages, speaking of sizes, I say 
"about" which means that i/4 or 3/16 of ar inch should 
not make any difference in size. For insta ^ce if a mink 
skin lacks a little of going No. 2, perhaps '■'e No. 1 or 
No. 3 is a little larger than standard; therei. 'o making 
things even for both trapper and buyer, providing the 
skin No. 2 goes into the No. 2 pile and not into the No. 3. 
In buying or selling "give and take a little." 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

cost the consumer $75.00 or $80.00. I find that among 
both trappers and buyers human nature runs about the 
same as in other lines of business. There are honest 
men and crooks ; there are some that are honest because 
they never had a chance to be any other way. 

Many of the facts I am able to give I had at hand 
(having followed the Frontier 30 years) within my own 
knowledge, but I wish here to acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to — 
" Mr. "Marten Hunter," Breckville, Ont., Can. 

Mr. John Shufelt, Sutton P. O., Quebec. 

Mr. Louis P. Luehrs, Monee, II.. 

Mr. C. P\ Morton, Newburyort, Mass. 

Mr. H. R. Little, Tower, Minn. 

Mr. Eug. R. La Fleche, Ottawa, Can. 

Mr. D. V. Pixley, Rivers Junction, Mich. 

The Hunter, Trader and Trapper, Columbus, O. 

Mr. Geo. R. Cripps, 14 & 16 Bold St., Liverpool, Eng- 
land (Furrier) 

and others. The men here mentioned are "Deans" in 
their chosen profession, and in whose judgment I have 
confidence and respect. In regard to trapping and judg- 
ing fur I wish to ask the trapper two questions: 

1st — If you ^e unable to grade and judge your fur, 
h ) you know whether you have received 

moic or less than they are worth? 

2nd — If you know not the value of your own goods, 
can you expect another man to always tell you 
honestly — from his point of view? 

Yours truly, 

A. F. WALLACE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Hints on Color, Quality and Size. 

As a general thing" the nearer the equator you 
go the darker the color, and the nearer the poles the 
lighter the color. White animals are only found in 
the north. The white fox, white rabbits, the ermine, 
are good examples, yet red is a common color in the 
north. Animals living in the woods usually have 
darker fur than those livng on the p' " ' or open 
country; Avolves show this very cleari^v, also mink. 
Animals living on the coast or where there is sea air 
have a coarser and usually thicker fur, yet some 
buyers grade them lower than those tra^ ' 'here 
salt air does not strike ; for what reason I ai.. 
to say as no account is made of this at the ^'ondon 
sales. 



8 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

Animals living in the woods and forest also usual- 
ly have finer fur, and, generally speaking, the colder 
winter produces the best fur. As before stated the 
nearer animals live to the poles their color decreases, 
and the nearer the poles their size increases; the 
weakly ones die off, and the stronger being fittest, 
survive. The survivors have to cover large tracts in 
their search for food and they develop bone and 
muscle ; those living south have food more plenty 
and do not seem to develop so large — of course there 
are some exceptions to this, viz., the mink and otter. 



v K 



CHAPTER 2. 

Fur Markets. 

Before proceeding' with this subject I wish to re- 
late an instance that occurred to me some years ago 
in the great wheat belt of the North-west. The case 
is so j)arailel with the fur business that it is a good 
illustration. When this great Avlieat country fir_. 
opened up the ranchmen used to get No. 1 hard 
wheat, i. e. it graded that and commanded the top 
price. As time went on for some unknown reason 
the elevator men had several grades, No. 1 Hard, No. 
1 Northern, No. 2 Northern and Reje'"-^'^d. For these 
grades the buyers offered various exea.,., ^ dif- 

ferent prices, and some of them were certainly ao- 
surd. Finally it came to a stage when no elevator 
man or wheat buyer would give the No. 1 Hard (i. e. 
first quality). A good deal of this wheat Avas ground 
in Minneapolis in the great wheat mills there. Fin- 
ally I Avas detailed to go to Llinneapolis ..id find out 



10 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

if there was any distinction made when this wheat 
struck the mills, in regards to the flour turned out, 
that is, the quality of the flour. In order to obtain 
this information I had to go to work in the mills as 
a laborer at night, which I did. After a time I got 
on good terms with the head miller, and one night 
he showed me over the mill. While on the grinding 
floor I asked him where they ground the No. 1 Hard, 

No. 1 Northern etc. His answer was, ''H 1 it all 

goes into one hopper when it gets here." He said to 
me, ''When it gets here it is graded either hard or 
i^oft wheat, if it's too soft to grind we dry it, if hard 
we do not have to dry it ; it all makes the same flour, 
the only difference being the cheap flour is ground 
coarse and the fancy flour is ground fine, the former 
requJE'i'ng less grinding." In the following pages 
please consider the London sales, the grist mill, the 
fur and the ^our. 

Without doubt the principal fur market is Lon- 
don, England. It is convenient for all large buyers, 
who are mostly Germans, Frenchmen, Americans, 
Englishmen and Russians. A good many other com- 
panif^" v/tLO collect fur send them to London espe- 
cially to be dyed. First and most important 
is the ''H. B. C. Co." whose sales realize or bring 



PUR MARKETS. 11 

$1,500,000 yearly on the average. They run a 
fleet of seven vessels and also ship c[mte a few furs 
by steamer from Montreal, Can., in order to save 
time. Next comes the ''Russian Fur Co." which is 
a combination of more than sixty companies. Also 
the Alaska Co", of San Francisco, Cal. The North 
American Co. of San Francisco, Cal., who hold a 
lease from the United States for taking seals in 
Alaska.* The Russian Sealskin Co., who have a 
right conferred on them to take seal on Copper 
Island. Also the Harmony Co. who carry on a large 
business on the coast of Labrador. The Royal 
Grreenland Fur and Trading Co., with headquarters 
in Copenhagen, who do a large business in hair seal, 
foxes and polar bear. These are the principal fur 
companies we will speak of. The London Sales, 
which are no doubt the largest, govern the rest to a 
certain extent — fur skins as brought to t>iis sale are 
of course raw^ or untanned and are soia at auction 
strictly. The sales are held in a well furnished and 
large room in the city built for that purpose. At 
one lime they were held in different brokers' offices. 
No samples are shown. Catalogues are sent --"t to 



Expired 1910. 



12 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

buyers telling Avhere the skins can be seen. The 
warehouses where the skins are stored are like the 
cotton warehouses in London, only better lighted. 
As one goes up the rough Avinding stairs, all you see 
is a notice on each floor saying what skins are stored 
there. Now mark you : these skins are only roughly 
sorted into sizes, very little or no notice being taken 
as to quality; good, bad or indifferent ones being 
found in the same lot ; there are actually no other 
grades. When the fur gets to the big mill it is either 
large or small (same as the wheat was either hard 
or soft), the size and district are all that counts in 
ihe seller's eye. and this is all the fact: the buyer 
wants to know, i. e., size and district. For instance 
lot thus and so, 500 Mink from northern Maine or 
York district or 500 Martens from the N. W. 
and Rof"^"'^ Mountains. U. S. A., so many large, so 
many Six., This is all the grading there is. All 
these skins are raw. as there is no duty on raw 
1 s ; the duty was abolished about 1845. The duty 
in France is about 75e per pound, in Germany I be- 
^ they are free, in Canada a duty of 15c each on 
dressed skins, the United States admits raw skins 
free, but. charge 35 per cent ad valorem on drt^ssed 



FUR MARKETS. 13 

skins. Some of these sales last for weeks, the quan- 
tities being so large. 

Here is a March sale, which shows about the 
average along in 1901 to 1903 : 

Fisher, 3,760. Sable, 56,480. 

White Fox, 3,560. Mink, 57,350. 

Lynx, 5,700. Skunk, 5,680. 

Wolf, 1,350. Bear, Black, 7,080. 

Wolverine, 650. Bear, Gray, 160. 

Muskrat, 1,650,514. Bear, Brown, 789. 

Cross Fox, 1,450. Beaver, 45,550. 

Red Fox, 5,915. Otter, 8,575. 

During these sales different lots are knocket. 
down at all sorts of prices. Only after the sales ar.c 
over can any kind of an average be struck, and it 
can be said the average price of such a skin ±^ oO 
and so. This year Alaska seals are sold in Novem- 
ber, some other far in January, but lost im- 
portant and the price makers are usually the March 
sales. Sometimes small sales are held in Jun^^ and 
in October, but these are small and insignificant 
compared w^ith the March sales. These sales t^ke 
place in the salesroom above referred to. Tl is 
no excitement or haggling among the bny^rs and 
they include people of most every nationality, some 



14 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

women — mostly Russian — who come over to buy. 
The attendance varies according to the interest 
taken in the skins offered. Bids are silent, simply 
a nod of the head ; the only voice heard is the one 
of the presiding officer. Lots are knocked down 
mighty quick, there is no rag chewing whatever, 
ever. 

As soon as the March sales are over buyers hike 
across to Leipsic, Germany. The business there is 
tedious compared with the London sales. Every- 
thing is graded as at the great sale at London, but 
the system of selling is on the horse trade principle. 
(What'l you take? I'll give so much, let's split the 
diff'erence.) There is a small sale at Irbit, a small 
Siberian town, in February. This town is on the 
boundary between Europe and Asia and is attended 
by Russians and Germans mostly. One other im- 
portant sale comes off at Nijni Novgorod in Russia; 
this town is on the Volga river, 412 miles east of 
Moscow. This sale or fair lasts sometimes three 
months ; much other merchandise besides fur 
changes hands. Most of the merchants are Chinese, 
Japs, Tartars, Persians, Armenians, Siberians and 
otnfcrs , they are said to be good judges of fur, and 
these skins come in wooden boxes sewn together 



FUR MARKETS. 15 

(not nailed). Furs are here sold in large lots; the 
small buyer is not in it. The buyers are mostly 
Frenchmen and Germans, a few Englishmen and 
once in while a Canadian. Now what do you think 
of that, Canadians buying fox in Russia ! My fur- 
rier friend says the town is very filthy and the police 
system a nuisance. 



CHAPTER III. 

Dressing and Coloring. 

The process of dressing is the method by which 
raw skins are softened and prepared for manufac- 
ture. The Indian is probably the best dresser of 
fur and the art has been borrowed from him. The 
Kaffir of Africa excel in dressing leopard, antelope 
etc. ; the Germans are the best dressers of squirrel 
and beaver. The first is surely a specialty with 
them ; nearly the whole town of- Weissenf els, 
Saxony, is in this trade — skill in matching colors, 
soft white felt and clean fur are unsurpassed. They 
also dress the muskrat fine, but large skins they 
leave too thick. The English dress everything and 
dress it well ; by the English method the skins are 
placed in some kind of an alkali. bath, when soft 
they are stretched and all moisture worked out by 
a hand instrument ; then they are worked over a 
dull knife placed in upright position. They are then 
battered, placed in a tub of sawdust and trodden 
by men wlj:h bare feet ; this makes them soft and 



DRESSING AND COLORING. 17 

I)liable. Then they are stretched and beaten out and 
finished. The only bad feature in the English mode 
of dressing is that in cold climates they get a little 
stiff. This is avoided by the Russian way of dress- 
ing, but the Russian way leaves a bad smelL The 
Chinese method leaves a bad smell like camphor. 

Dyeing. — The dj^eing of fur is very old, it is 
spoken of in the Bible. The occupation of a fur 
dyer is very unhealthy. In old times fur was dyed 
by having the color brushed on them, the color being 
applied 10 or 15 times. Now skunks are dipped 
bodily in the dye. The English dyeing excels for 
most pelts and is a trade secret. The Grermans excel 
in dyeing lynxes, fox and coon, also the blue color 
in fur, also muskrats and mink. They will rig and 
dye fur most any old way. The point to make is to 
have furs in a garment match, as it is most impos- 
sible to dye the dark ones ; the light ones must be 
dyed to match. So I suppose here is why light fur 
is graded dov/n, but too much down grade is used hy 
some buyers. As the dyeing costs little as the djer 
works by the day and the dyes cost little, being 
made mostly of copper dust, antimonia, camphor, 
verdegris, gall nuts etc., stuif that costs little, many 
thousand rabbit skins are dyed to imitate many fiirs„ 



18 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

Tipping — Marten skins (which are hard to 
match) consists of tipping the ends of the hair with 
coloring liquid, leaving the nnder fur free from dye. 
This is very useful as it always makes a good skin 
of one unsaleable. It has also to be resorted to in 
renovating the color that has faded with age and 
wear. Light skins are made dark through this pro- 
cess and cannot be told from the genuine, only by 
the most expert. Marten skins are very hard to 
match and it is almost a necessity to tip them to 
make a job on the fur. Skunk skins are often dyed 
and pass for Alaska sable — and strange as it may 
seem there are no skunk in Alaska, I have been told. 

These remarks on dyeing and tipping are to 
^show what skins have to go through by the furrier 
and cannot be considered as a swindle, as it is neces- 
sary, as before stated. To do this in order to get 
fur to match or blend, so to speak, and on ac- 
count of this system of fixing light fur is why all 
skins are graded small or large by the London sales 
people. Yet there is no reason to doubt that the 
unprincipled furriers use this to their own end — as 
well as some buyers grasp any excuse to grade down 
good, fur in this country. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Trapper's Viewpoint. 

There are many cases where the trapper and col- 
lector is rob])ed out of a good share of his work by 
crooked ])nyers and fur houses by our system of 
grades and by the distinction made in regard to the 
place of Capture of the animal. Many fur dealers 
offer to hold shipments separate, but when the trap- 
per gets his returns and is not satisfied and orders 
them sent back, there is always an alibi — furs are 
gone or are mislaid, etc., etc. Then again there are 
some good honest buyers who will keep the ship- 
ments separate, and to the best of my belief the 
small honest buyer as well as the large one is the 
best man for this. I shall have more to say on this 
subject under the head of '^Selling or Shipping." 
In probing into this subject I have consulted none 
but old and experienced trappers and sorters who 
have been years in the business, as I consider them 
better judges than the farmer boy who catches only 
a few rats and skunk each fall. Another thing that 



20 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

trappers do not quite understand is the price quoted 
in the price lists of the periodicals taken by men 
who follow trapping on a large scale. After the 
London sales the quantity of skins are given etc., 
then the per cent they have rose or fell, for instance 
mink 20 per cent higher, skunk 20 per cent lower, 
fox 10 per cent higher or 10 per cent lower. Higher 
or lower than what? If the average price was given 
of the previous sale there would he a basis from 
which to figure, but no prices are given, and the 
only prices that are given are what the fur buyers 
quote the editor or manager of the magazines. 
Buyers by fixing the price quoted the magazines can 
provide for a raise or fall of prices very easily. Now 
it is my belief that the average prices of the London 
Sales should be quoted of the last sale. The aver- 
age price is all that could be quoted inasmuch as 
there are only two grades made (large and small) 
of all skins, and the price would have to be a flat 
one. As these sales are all by auction bids and 
there is none of this blue pelt, cotton pelt, light pelt 
or medium pelt nonsense as is here used by buyers, 
mere it is — so many large marten, so many small 
marten from this or that district sold for so much — 
if they are light or dark they are tipped or dyed to 



THE TRAPPER'S VIEWPOINT. 21 

match by the furrier and that is all there is to it. 
I here quote some kicks of trappers who follow it 
for a living and take thousands of dollars worth of 
fur each year, omitting names for obvious reasons. 

''Much has been written on catching wild ani- 
mals and fur producers, but there remains one 
species that is certainly hard to catch and has been 
overlooked by many, and few of our best trappers 
have caught him. This is the wild animal know^n as 
a No. 1 large. I have never secured such a pelt in 
my many years of trapping. The reliable fur buyers 
pay the price they agree to, but have it all their own 
way in grading. I would like to suggest a new way 
of grading, i. e. if the hide won't go on a No. 1 large 
board it will go on a No. 2 or medium and so on. 
Then when we ship Ave will know what we are ship- 
ping. I would like to hear from other trappers and 
collectors on the subject. The fur buyers should 
have a standard. 1 don't really see why an honest 
buyer should object to it. I shipped steady to one 
buyer until I got a very large mink that required 
an extra large board, and my buyer made it mea-- 
ium and to make things fit or work out right graded 
the others small etc. that had been boarded hitherto 



22 SORTING, GRADING AND SORTING FURS. 

on a medium board. How would it do to grade our 
hides into two sizes and ship the larger to the old 
dealer and the smaller to a new one who will see 
medium also. The new man sees a trial shipment 
and is looking for the big one to come. I don't say 
that all buyers are crooked, but I don't see any 
other fair way for a square deal but a standard size. 
Some dealers usually give all they can for the first 
shipment, afterwards the hides grow smaller and 
lighter: they shed and sweat and are off color etc. 
By all means give us a standard size." 

"I would like to ask a few questions of trappers. 
A good many fur houses offer large prices; if you 
get bit once you do not go there again. Usually you 
will change and sliip to some other house and prob- 
ably get bit again and perhaps worse. Probably a 
good many of you receive quotations from manu- 
facturers saying they can pay more than others be- 
cause they make the fur up themselves and avoid 
^11 middle profits and sometimes offering you 10 
per cent over their own quotations, when the fact 
is they are quoting you 25 per cent below what 
some other buyers are paying. I hope there will be 
a new deal in fur buying. Now we will take the 



THE TRAPPER'S VIEWPOINT. 23 

country j)roducer who used to ship produce to a 
commission merchant and got what the commission 
man chose to give him, which sometimes was very 
little, and sometimes the shipper was asked to pay 
the freight even, besides being robbed out of his 
carload of goods. Nowadays the country shippers 
are wise, they don't get the hooks thrown into them. 
When he ships he accompanies his bill of lading 
with a draft which the commission man must go to 
the bank and pay before taking the car of produce. 
Now I would like to ask if we could not sell our fur 
through the express companies the same way. The 
trapper then can ship his fur to some other point if 

the prices are not satisfactory." 

# # '^ 

^'It seems to me that trappers have other things 
to fight besides trap thieves. One is the man who 
sends out circulars and hangs his face out to be a 
commission fur dealer. He tells the trapper he can 
get the highest market price and that he charges 
only 5 per cent commission. I have dealt with thesp 
men for years and I believe I have found out what 
they mean by 5 per cent commission and that is, 
that we ship them our fur and they will send back 
what they please ; if we kick they say the fur was 



24 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

trapped too early or it was sweating or shedding or 
small or light or not handled right or some of the 
hundred and one excuses, they being the sole judge 
iu the case. I believe there are some dealers who 
would pay honest prices if we would make condi- 
tions so they could. As long as we ship to so many 
different houses, if we would, by combining and 
ship to one house, say one good honest firm, then 
we would have protection and have what the fur 
was worth. Take the price list of most any firm, 
fheii compare their bank book with the trapper's 
and it soon tells the story. Why is it that the fur 
dealers and market reports never tell what fur sold 
for at the London sales, but just say some sold 
higher or lower? This is a matter we high line men 

don't understand.'' 

# * * 

"I bought ciuite a few furs this fall and I would 
'Ke to say something about manufacturers of fur. 
A friend of mine bought a set of fur last winter and 
paid $10.00. When they were brought home I was 
asked to examine them and see if I could tell what 
they were. I did so and found they were southern 
coon with coyote tails or some other tails not coon. 
I suppose the trapper who caught that coon got 



THE TRAPPER'S VIEWPOINT. 2 5 

about $1.50 for the skin, the buyer probably made 
from 30c to 50c on it. Now the manufacturer says 
he is buying close up to the market, also says fur is 
too high — now I believe the manufacturer gets the 
hog end of it. Another friend of mine bought a 
small fur in New York City. The salesman said the 
price was $15, but as it v^as along toward spring he 
would sell for $12. He took the fur ; it sold for river 
mJnk ; there v^ere about 8 nmskrats hides in it for 
which the trapper probably got 25c apiece. 

Now, dear reader, if any of your friends buy 
any manufactured fur, see if they don't pay one- 
half more than it is really worth whether the fur is 
expensive or cheap in the raw. 

I have laying before me a letter just received 
from an old time trapper who makes a business of 
trapping and has done so for many years. He has 
not been trapping for the last two seasons. H^^- /^ 
are some extracts from his letter : 

"I have tried to find out the proper size of skins 
sometimes by taking a post maul. I can wedge a 
skin from a big buck animal up to rather a small 
medium, but a large No 1 would have to be "some" 
big before a grader could see it " 



2 6 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

''My fur is all No. 1 as I do not trap in July and 
August, but I never sold a hide in my life that did 
not have something the matter with it, and after I 
got to talking "Trappers' Rights" I found my fur 
got still smaller and worse in grade " 

"Why should fur be sized different for different 
countries? If our large (Northern Minn.) is no 
bigger than the medium in the east, why not leave 
them medium 1 I fail to see why the eastern trapper 
should furnish a larger hide than the Minnesota 
trapper to get No. 1 Large ? Why do they pay more 
for New York mink than Minnesota mink? I have 
trapped in New^ York and I never saw a mink there 
that was equal to the mink in this country, but east 
we could go and sell direct to the manufacturer, and 
the buyer knows this and will pay the eastern 
trapper m.ore for his skins ; for he knows that the 
43per in the east don't have to give them away." 

"Sometime ago, being in a large eastern city, I 
saw a bunch of prime weasel hanging in the window 
of a furrier. I went in, green looking, and asked 
what they were. He said ermine from Northern 
Minnesota. I wanted to buy one. He did not want 
to sell, but after a lot of coaxing he offered me the 
bummest one of the lot for just $7.00. Now a Min- 



THE TRAPPER'S VIEWPOINT. 27 

nesota trapper could not get a cent over 60c for 
that skin. I have trajDped both countries, both New 
York and Minnesota, and I claim that the Minne- 
sota weasel is larger of the two " 

''Trappers are like farmers, they won't stick to- 
gether. I am trapping no more. So let each one 
paddle according to his own notion. For my part 
I don't work when there is no pay. Trapping at its 
best is a hard, greasy up-hill job." 



CHAPTER V. 

The Buyer's Viewpoint, 

This kick comes from a very large fur house and 
there must be something in it as trappers are usual- 
ly looking for the long end of it the same as the 
rest of human nature. This fur buyer says that it 
is a notorious fact that there are many in the fur 
line who are tricky and dishonest (meaning the 
trappers) and who seek to make their profits or 
additional games through practices that would land 
them in prison were the necessary legal proofs of 
their misdeeds in order. We refer to that class of 
trappers who will cut out the stripes of a skunk and 
.v^ the parts together, freeze the skin and sell it to 
..j.ie buyer for what it is not. Another pastime is 
painting the stripes or color them. Then another 
crude, we regret to say a common practice, is to 
abstract and change fur that has been bought and 
paid for by the traveling buyer who had packed and 
confidingly left the fur in the hands of the merchant 
for shipment. 



THE BUYER'S VIEWPOINT. 29 

All such and similar practices are fraudulent, 
and the latter is simply theft as every shipment re- 
ceived is resorted, counted and checked with the 
statement of the traveling buyer who sends in the 
goods. Such frauds are readily detected and the 
people making them are duly recorded by the firms 
who have been swindled. Every honest dealer is 
interested in rooting these frauds out of business. 
They are spotted and watched and are not allowed 
to repeat the practice by the firms who have suffered 
by this practice. 



Grading and Sorting Skunk. 

Skunk is one of the most common skins found 
in this country and is considered a fine skin by the 
furrier. It wears well, looks well and if it was not 
so plentiful would be one of the most costliest of our 
American skins. Furriers often call it Alaska sable 
and sometimes black marten. At the London Sales 
it is graded in two sizes, large and small. Some 
account is taken of stripes, if long and wide. Our 
United States buyers have four grades for mark- 
ings : Black, short stripe, narrow stripe, and broad. 
These in turn are graded into Large, Medium and 
Small (Prime). Skins are classed No. 1 if narrow 
stripes run to the shoulders and even to the middle 
of the pelt; if a thin short stripe, are classed No. 2 
if stripes run an inch beyond the middle. The No. 3 
has a stripe that runs the full length and an inch 
wide. No. 4 are skins that have more white than 
black. These stripes cut but little figure when they 
come to the furrier, for he simply cuts the white 



GRADING AND SORTING SKUNK. 



31 



stripe out and sews np the slit, then they are all 
black skunk, and as this is done by cheap labor it 
adds little to the cost of the hide. It is size that 
counts with the furrier. One thing I want to im- 
press on the trapper : A skin to be classed prime 




No. 1 or 
Black 




No. 2 or 
Short Striped 



No. 3 or 
Long Striped 



No. 4 or 
Broad Striped 



should be white or cream colored on the flesh side 
and if not so cannot be considered prime, and a skin 
that is blue or black or spotted white and blue or 
black on the flesh side is worthless as a No. 1 skin 
with the buyers. This applies to all skins and fur, 
and in grading all skins bear this in mind. 



32 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

We now come to the size of skunk. This seems 
to vary — in some parts of the country they run 
larger than in others, also they vary in stripe, in 
some sections the stripe being smaller than in other 
parts of the country. In regard to size : A skin that 
will stretch over a board that is 7% in. wide at the 
butt and 7 in. at the shoulder is a No. 1 large, and 
other things being equal, i. e. primeness, thickness 
of fur, etc., should be a ''No. 1 large prime." A 
skin that will stretch over a board that is 7 in. 
across at the butt and QV^, in. at the shoulder is 
about No. 2, and one that will stretch over a board 
that is 6^/2 in. wide at the butt and 5% in. at the 
shoulder is a No. 3 skin. But to get these grades 
they must be prime and have a good coat of under- 
fur, and in order to have these conditions they must 
be caught in late fall, winter or early spring. In 
skinning and curing, skin to case ; also skin out the 
feet and tail, cut a small slit in the end of tail to let 
out any grease that may accumulate. In all cases 
get the bone out of the tail, even if you have to skin 
it out, and tack the tail open on the stretching 
board. Draw the skin over the proper sized board 
and stretch comfortably tight, but don't overstretch. 
If you. do this the length of the s^l?:in will care for 



GRADING AND SORTING SKUNK. 33 

itself: take the boAvl of a table spoon and scrape off 
all flesh and fat ; tie the nose and imderlip together, 
sew up any shot holes with white thread and do the 
same with any cuts or other holes in the skin ; take 
a cloth and wipe off all fat and blood and if the fur 
has any grease or blood on it rub sawdust (drj^ 
hardwood) into it and clean. For a buyer will dock 
you a grade if you do not do this. After the hide 
is done hang it in a cool shady place where there is 
a circulation of air. Stick a stick into the tail and 
cut through a little hole in the end of the tail. 
Examine your skin from time to time and wipe 
off any grease that shows on the flesh side with 
a clean rag and keep the stick in the tail loose by 
moving it a little. If the hair on the tail pulls out 
fill tail with powdered salt and alum; the alum sets 
the hair or fur and the salt preserves it. Usually 
the buyer will seize upon this to grade it down, tell 
him to forget it — that the furrier pays no attention 
to this little salt and alum. 

There are some funny things about skunk, in 
some sections. They run to short stripes or black 
and others in some sections run to all four grades. 
In some states, especially the northwestern, they run 
to long stripes, but they are big ones and bring more 



3 4 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

money than the ordinary striped pelt. In Ohio and 
Indiana they run 50 per cent to No. I's; the farther 
south you go the thinner fured they seem to be, be- 
ginning to show this in southern and central Indiana 
by March 1st, in central and northern central sec- 
tions they begin to get springy and much earlier 
south. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Grading and Sorting the Weasel. 

There is little to be said in regard to the weasel. 
The white or winter ones are only wanted and the 
tails, especially good prime white winter caught, are 
the saleable ones. Brown are of little or no value. 
The white ones should be pure white except a little 
on the belly which is the color of sulphur, and if 
any more dark or stain is present it is graded down. 
They are usually graded white and yellowsh, but 
tbie furrier makes little or no distinction. Of course 
no skin is prime unless white or cream colored on 
the flesh side when the animal is skinned. The fur- 
rier matches then the white ones and the yellow 
ones and he must have several thousand to start on 
in order to do a good job at it. As for size, a skin 
that will stretch over a board that is 2^ in. at the 
butt and about 2^^ in. at the shoulder should be a 
No. 1 large, and one that will stretch over a board 
2% in. wide at the butt and 1% in. wide at the 
shoulder is about No. 2. A skin that will stretch' 



36 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

over a board that is 1% in. at the butt and 1% in. 
across at the shoulders is No. 3. In regard to length, 
if your skin stretches comfortably over these board 
sizes and is properly pulled down and tacked to the 
board, the length will take care of itself. Don't 
stretch too tight in your desire to have a big skin. 
Stretch the hide proper, but not enough to make a 
thin fured skin. In shipping wrap each skin in 
clean paper if you can, for much depends on their 
being clean, and don't forget to cut a small hole 
at the end of the tail to let out any sediment that 
may form in the tail for the tail is the most valu- 
able part of the skin, or better yet stick a darnng 
needle or awl hole in the end of the tail several 
times, scrape off all grease or flesh after you have it 
on the board with the bowl of a table spoon and 
wash off all blood from the hide, both on the flesh 
and fer side, and take sawdust or fine sand and 
clean the fur by rubbing it into the fur, then dusting 
it out. Always have all your skins of all kinds 
pulled on the boards square with the world, i. e. the 
belly on one side of board and back on the other. 
Take pains with your skins, for it surely pays. 
Hang your weazel skin in a dry cool place to cure 
and where there is a little circulation of air. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Grading and Sorting the Muskrat. 

The muskrat is beginning to come into its own 

place and is being recognized for what it is, i. e. one 

of our best furs. Furriers use it much for linings 

and with proper dyeing or tipping to match, the 

skin makes up into a splendid fur. Plucked and 

dyed it makes a splendid imitation of seal. In its 

natural condition it is used much for linings; when 

used this way it is divided into backs and flanks to 

make it match good without tipping or dyeing. 

Some furriers think it is especially liable to attack 

from moths and recommend that it and all fur be 

beaten and looked after during the summer months, 

They are graded by the buyers in regard to their 

size and fur, whether spring or winter caught or 

fall — and of course many other if's and and's; but 

these all disappear when they come to the furrier, 

Since rats became a favorite they are not graded 

but are bought flat, somewhat as at the London 

Sales. Some buyers think they will recede from the 



38 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

position they now occupy, but it is our humble opin- 
ion that rats will see the dollar mark before they 
see the 25e mark again. We do not think the pres- 
ent price is fictitious. Rats usually get on their 
winter dress in November in the north and middle 
states, and of course later in the south. We strongly 
advise all trappers to catch their rats in late fall or 
early winter and early spring. Some buyers claim 
the best rats are found in the central and eastern 
sections; some claim that Labrador rats are best. 
Also that a winter rat caught ^outh, the fur is short 
(and this is the truth). Then some claim that in 
some parts of the northAvest the skins are papery. 
But some buyers use this excuse to grade them 
down. As before stated, if a skin is of the proper 
size, prime and properly furred, it is a No. 1 skin. 
Mr. Elmer Kreps and other trappers whose judg- 
ment we respect, say that the largest rats come from 
the eastern states and the smallest from the plainest 
region of the Northwest. Why this is so is a conun- 
drum unless it is alkali water and lack of proper 
feed in that country which has this effect on them. 
A rat that will stretch over a board that is about 
6% in. wide at the butt and 6 in. at the shoulder 
and does not require too much stretching to do t^iis 



CxRADING AND SORTING THE MUSKRAT. 39 

and is well pulled down on the board and fastened 
with galvanized tack and is well primed and full 
fured, should grade No. 1 large for the country it 
was caught in; but don't stretch it too much so as to 
make it look thin furred. And this will apply to 
the stretching of all skins spoken of in this book, 
and a skin that will stretch over a board that is 5 in. 
wide at the shoulder and 5% in. at the butt is a 
No. 2, other things being equal; and a skin that will 
stretch over a board that is 5^/4 in. wide at the butt 
and about 4% at the shoulder is a No. 3. '^ As be- 
fore stated the furrier will take care of the color 
with his dyes. After he has matched all he can in 
their natural colors, he has to dye some in order in 
make the odd colors match after he has matched all 
he can in natural colors, otherwise we would have 
some strange looking garments. A fur manufac- 
turer cannot do much in matching unless he has 



^^ Eegarding the length of muskrats skins in the 
eastern states and the central west and south, a 
No. 1 large will run about 15 to 17 in. for length; 
a No. 2 about 13 to 14% in. long, and a No. 3 about 
101/2 to 12% in. long. In the alkali portion of the 
northwest and west they will run a little smaller on 
the same grades. ,..!-. 



40 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

about 6000 skins to start in with, that is if he is 
doing much manufacturing". We will explain north- 
ern and southern fur later on under that chapter. 
To the best of my belief the furrier does not do this 
to create an artificial price or swindle any one ; he 
simply has to in order to make a good looking gar- 
ment. Skin all rats to case, cut off the tails, scrape 
off all flesh and fat with the bowl of your spoon, 
wipe off all blood, clean the fur with sawdust if 
needed, hang in a dark, cool, dry place until dry — 
as a general thing it is best to hang all fur skins in 
the dark to cure as they will dry out darker fur. 
When taking them off and putting in bunches ex- 
amine them often and see to it that they don't mil- 
dcAV or sweat. 



CHAPTER IX. 

* Grading and Sorting the Mink. 

Mink skins are muc-h used by furriers for linings^ 
also for coats and for trimmings. They are con- 
sidered by the English furriers to be one of the best 
wearing furs known. The mink of the N.-E., i. e. 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Brunswick^ 
Quebec and Labrador, are small and dark; larger 
ones are found on the prairie districts of the Dako- 
tas and Canadian districts, also in Iowa, Nebraska 
and the northwest and central states. Their fur is 
a little coarser in texture and somewhat lighter than 
the N.-E. mink. The rule among some buyers that 
the farther north we go the better the fur won't 
hold good in all cases, as some of our finest mink 
come from Georgia, North and South Carolina, but 
from a high altitude, while some from near salt 
water are coarser but well underfured. The majori- 
ty of mink in the country are brown, some a few 
shades of lighter brown than others. Square dealer 
or buyers do not discriminate very close, as it makes 



42 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

no material difference to the furrier as tliey liave to 
be matched anyhoAV. So long as the skin is of good 
color, prime and well handled it should bring top 
price. But the jokey dealer sees all kinds of trouble 
— pale, cotton, sweaty, blue pelt, too much top hair, 
light underfur, poorly handled, southern, or some- 
thing else of the category of jokeying excuses; but 
when they get to the big mill, i. e. London, they are 
either large or small and that is all there is of it. 
Mink caught near salt water have a coarser fur, 
which lead some to believe the fur is poor, but the 
furrier in England makes little distinction, only 
takes pains to match them good. In grading for 
size an officer of the H. B. C. Co. who graded and 
traded fur for the above Company for 40 years, in- 
forms me that the Canadian sizes are for No. 1 large : 
Length 18 in. (less the tail), width 4 in. at rump. 
No. 2 large: Length 16 in. (less the tail), width at 
rump 314 in. No. 3 small : Length 13 in. (less the 
tail), width at rump 3 in. I have the greatest res- 
pect for this man's judgment, as forty years ex- 
perience counts for something nowadays. I find 
that the better class of buyers grade for size about 
the same here in the United States, i. e. : A skin that 
will stretch over a board 3% in. wide at the butt 



GRADING AND SORTING THE MINK. 43 

and SYs ill. at slioulder and 18 in. (a little more or 
less) in length from the tip of the nose to the butt 
of the skin (less tail), other things being equal, is 
a No. 1 large mink; and one that will stretch over a 
board that is 3% in. Avide at the butt and 2% in. at 
the shoulders and about 16 in. long from the tip of 
the nose to the butt of the skin (tail excluded), other 
things being equal, is a No. 2 large mink; and one 
that will stretch over a board that is about 2% in. 
at the butt and 2V2 in. scant at the shoulder and is 
about 14 m. long from the tip of the nose to the butt 
of skin (less tail), other things being equal, is a 
No. 3 large mink. It will be noted that the H. B. C. 
standard is a little wider, but not quite so long as 
the U. S. standard. Trappers should not stretch 
their skins so hard as to make the fur appear thin, 
better have them one grade smaller than to spoil a 
good skin. Or should the trapper have them so loose 
on the board as to appear wrinkled, take pains in 
skinning, split from the center of the hind foot 
along inside to the vent, skin out the feet and leave 
the claws on the pelt, skin out ears and nose leaving 
them on the hide and the gristle on the nose the- 
same. After boarding take the spoon bowl and 
scrape off all the meat and wash off all blood and 



44 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

dirt from the flesh side and clean the fur with dry 
hardwood sawdust; hang in a dark, cool, dry place 
until thoroughly dry. If you do this you will get 
top prices, and don't overlook skinning the bone out 
of the tail and pricking a hole in end of tail and in- 
sert a smooth dry stick and keep the prick holes 
open, for it pays the biggest price to take good care 
and pains in skinning, stretching and curing your 
skins. And don't forget to sew up any shot holes 
and tie the nose and underlip together when putting 
the skin on the board — and if your skins will stretch 
over these boards comfortably they will be long 
enough to conform to the proper length for Nos. 1, 
2 and 3, when properly pulled down on the boards 
and tacked down with galvanized iron tacks. 



CHAPTER X. 

Grrading and Sorting the Fisher. 

Fishers belong to the marten family and the 
furriers use it for collars, linings, also for caps for 
ladies and for muffs. It is hard to match and the 
furrier has to do much tipping or dye the fur com- 
pletely. In tipping them and the marten the furrier 
takes one skin for a model and tips the other to it, 
and it requires an artist to do this and get all the 
shades and colors. It is yellowish grey on the face, 
head and neck different shades of brown on the 
back, dark brown on the hind quarters ; the tail and 
legs are a brownish black. The tail is very large 
and valuable and from fourteen to eighteen inches 
long. The fur collector has not so many grades for 
this as for other skins. An average full sized fisher 
will measure about 2 feet from the tip of the nose 
to the butt of the hide (tail excluded) and for No. 1 
large it should stretch over a board 7% inches across 
at the butt and 6 in. at the shoulders, and for No. 2 
it should stretch over a board about 6% at butt and 



4 6 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING FURS. 

51/^ in. at shoulders, and for a No. 3 it should stretch 
over a board that is about 61/4 in. at butt and 5 in. 
at shoulders. In all these measurements, both for 
the skin and all others, we assume that all boards 
are % in. thick and made from some good, soft, dry, 
clear Avood — this for all skins. 

In skinning proceed as for the mink. Skin out 
feet and claws, leave claws on skin by commencing 
at middle of foot on the inside and cut to the vent. 
Skin out head leaving eyes, ears, muscle of nose on 
the skin. Scrape and wash, clean with spoon bowl 
and cloth, and the tail bone is best skinned out and 
left open or tacked open same as for otter. Still you 
might make a trial to skin the bone out with a split 
stick, but on no account leave the bone in the tail, 
for if it taints it might spoil the tail which is very 
valuable to the furrier. 



CHAPTER XI. 
Grading and Sorting the Otter. 

Otter is one of the finest and costliest fur known. 
It is very costly. In Russia, collars of this fur are 
much worn by the aristocracy and by noblemen of 
certain rank. Some are used in England and France 
as well as in the United States for coat collars and 
cuifs, also for ladies' wear. The color is between a 
dark brown and black and they measure from 3 to 
4 feet in length. The outer or guard hair is longer 
and coarser than the underfur. In sea otter there 
are long white hair in the fur and the more of these 
there are the more valuable the fur. $500 per skin 
in 1902 w^as quite an ordinary price and some skins 
have brought as high as $1000; but as few of our 
trappers take any sea otter, we will not dwell on 
this subject. 

In the common otter the American is the largest 
and is found all over North America, in Maine, 
Canada and Nova Scotia. They are dark brown 
from Halifax the}'' are coarser on account of bein^ 



48 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

near salt water. The largest come from Florida, 
but the fur is not quite so thick. They are a skin 
that is easier for the furrier to match as not so 
much work is required in dyeing and tipping; but 
where they are plucked, i. e. the long guard hairs 
pulled out, of course it is more work; this is called 
plucked otter. They are assorted by the buyers and 
fur houses about the same as mink and skins are, 
with all the if's and and's. But when they get to 
the big mill, i. e. London, all these if's and and's 
disappear and they are large or small and from so 
and so district, and that ends it. The standard 
grade and size for Otter in this country of honest 
fur houses and buyers is that a skin that will stretch 
over a board 91/2 in. at the butt and 7 in. at the 
shoulders, if prime and fairly well furred, is a No. 1 
large Otter; an Otter skin that will stretch over a 
hoard that is about 8% in. at the butte and a scant 
•61/2 in. at the shoulders is a No. 2 prime, other 
things being equal; and an Otter that will stretch 
over a board 8 in. at the butt and 5% in. at the 
^ shoulders is a No. 3 prime skin, other things being 
equal. In skinning, skin the bone out of the tail 
tnd tack the tail open on the board; skin out the 
feet and leave claws and web feet on hide. Be 



GRADING AND SORTING THE OTTER. 49 

careful about the head. Leave eyes and ears on the 
hide, nicely scrape and wipe and clean with saw- 
dust, stretch it comfortably snug on the board, but 
don't strain too hard after a larger size. Hang in 
a dark cool place where there is a circulation of air 
and when it is dry you will have a nice skin. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Grading and Sorting the Marten. 

Marten, sometimes known to the furriers as 
Canadian and American sable or simply as sable^ 
abound in Alaska, Canada and the Northern Uni- 
ted States. It is very durable, being stronger and 
more durable than the Russian Sable or Marten. 
While the Russian are softer they will not stand the 
hard knocks of the American. The American is 
considered by furriers as a warmer color, while the 
Russian tends towards a bluish gray, if such a term 
can be applied to a marten. All marten skins are 
difficult to match ; they are sorted over and over by 
the furrier to m.atcli them up into a garment. Large 
numbers are annually sent to London by the H. 
B. C, besides many American houses. The usual 
color is a rich brown, sometimes a light yellow and 
in some rare instances almost black, and are very 
highly prized, coming mostly from Maine and the 
Fort George district of the H. B. C. The underfur 
is of a bluish drab and the throats are yellow. In 



GRADING AND SORTING THE MARTEN. 51 

working up marten nothing is lost. The yellow 
throats are workin to linings and the paws into 
trimmings. The poorest skins come from the south- 
ern range in the United States. The marten of the 
coast range where there is a rainy season is not 
very good, and this w^ill speak for all fur caught 
where there is a rainy season and little or no cold 
weather; but if there are high cold mountains in 
such a region, fur caught on them is good, if the 
trapper is easy and new in the business of selling 
his marten. The fur houses and buyers will grade 
them and buy them the same as mink. Yet there 
are few unprime marten ; it holds up in beauty and 
winter quality until late in the season. Of course 
there are the usual if's and and's — dark, brown, 
pale, etc., but when they get to the big mill (Lon- 
don) they are large or small and the grade is set 
by the district they come from.. The better class of 
our American fur houses grade marten No. 1, No. 2 
and No. 3. A skin that will stretch over a board 
4V2 ill. at the butt and about 3% in. at the shoul- 
ders — other things being equal — is a No. 1 large 
prime marten ; one that will stretch over a board 
that is 4% in. at the butt and about 3I/2 in. at the 
shoulders is a No. 2; and one that will stretch over 



5 2 SORTING, GRADING AND CURING PURS. 

a board 3% in. wide at the butt and about 3 in. at 
the shoulders is a No. 3 skin, * and if fairly well 
fured and prime should bring the first money for 
their respective sizes. Be careful in skinning and 
leave claws on the skin, also eyes and ears and 
muzzle, as these are highly prized by the furrier. 
Use the bowl of the spoon as before mentioned and 
the cloth and sawdust. 



^ A No. 1 Marten, other things being equal, will 
stretch for length about 19 or 20 inches from nose 
.0 butt (less tail). A No. 2, 17- to 18 in. A No. 3, 
15 to 16 in. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Grading and Sorting the Fox. 

There are about fifteen different kinds of foxes 
known and used l)y the furriers, and in color rang- 
ing from the white of the Arctic to the black of 
Alaska and Canada. The largest red foxes come 
from Alaska and Canada. About 130,000 foxes are 
sold annually at Leipsic, Germany, and 200,000 of 
all kinds at Irbit, besides the ''London Sales." 
Common red fox skins are only used for cheap 
wrappers or for dyeing by the furriers. They are 
sorted and graded for their size, thickness of fur, 
bright colors and primeness by most fur buyers and 
fur houses, also several other excuses for not pay- 
ing a fair price ; not by all fur houses, for some are 
on the ''square deal." Of course a scalped fox 
whose scalp has gone for bounty is of less value 
than a perfect skin. The red fox is the most com 
mon and distributed over a large territory. A pui 
silver fox is much rarer than a black fox, that iS;^ a 
fox silvered from his head to the tip of his tail. 



5 4 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

The majority of silver foxes are black from the 
head to a third of the way down the back, part of 
the body and rnmp alone being silvered. The 
H. B. C. grade foxes as follows, namely : Black, 
Black Silver, Silver Gray, Black Cross, Dark Cross, 
Ordinary Cross, Bright Red, Light Red, and White. 
A black cross has yellow hair growing inside the 
ears and a patch of yellow near each fore leg; a 
silver has none. Dishonest trappers often try to get 
the best of the deal by plucking the yellow hairs 
out of the ears and by doctoring the side patches, 
i. e. trying to dye them; but they are usually caught 
by an old buyer, and he had much better leave this 
to the furrier to do as he can do it so it won't rub 
off. Our best American fur houses will allow as 
to size as follows: A skin that will stretch over a 
board that is about 1% in. wide at the butt and 6 in. 
at the shoulders is a No. 1 large; a skin that will 
stretch over a board that is 7 in. wide at the butt 
and about 5^4 in. at the shoulder is a No. 2, and 
one that will stretch over a board that is 6I/2 in. 
wide at the butt and about 4% in. at the shoulders 
a No. 3 in size. If these sizes are red fox, which 
they probably will be, are prime, i. e. white or 
crvmm color on the flesh side, fairly well furred. 



GRADING AND SORTING THE POX. 55 

properly stretched and cured, they should command 
the first three figures in the price list and you can 
tell the fur buyer that the furrier and the dyer will 
take care of the different shades and colors without 
ari}^ extra expense to either of you. Skin and clean 
as stated for other cased fur, being careful about 
the head, tail and claws, and don't forget that you 
have a spoon bowl, cloth and sawdust to clean it. 
All fox skins should be turned fur side out when 
partly dry and put back on the board to complete 
drying. This gives you a chance to comb out the 
fur with a co'arse comb — and makes a nice look- 
ing skin. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Sorting and Grading the Coon. 

The '"Coon" is found all over the United States, 
Central America and the extreme north of India. 
It is not used as much as formicrly by furriers. It 
used to be more sought after (and will be again) 
and was made up natural or dyed black or broAvn. 
It is a splendid wearing fur, a bit Iieavy in pelt; 
but the fault was corrected by the furrier who made 
it up in what is called ''taped," i. e. cut in strips 
and sewn on ribbons which made the pelt very 
pliable. They are graded as to light or dark, also 
as to primeness and size. A good many trappers 
stretch them in frames, but the furrier and dyer 
prefer them cased, although they do not insist on 
this; yet a cased skin looks neater and nicer. Coon 
are graded as to primeness and size — if they are 
o:raded honestly. As the furrier and dyer take care 
'f the colors and shades when they match them 
vithout any extra cost to trapper or buyer, I wish 
^' say a word here in regard to unprime skins: A 



GRADING AND SORTING THE COON. 5 7 

trapper who will catch them ought not to get a red 
cent for them, and a buyer who will buy them is a 
fool and ought to get struck for them. A trapper 
who will catch unprime fur, thereby cutting down 
his income for his fur 50 per cent and more is a fool 
and if he knows better he is a rascal and in either 
case should be run out of the business. If I was a 
fur buyer I Avould throAv his unprime skins in the 
culls and send him a bill for my trouble. 

A coon skin that will stretch over a board that 
is about 0^/> in. at the butt and 7 in. at the shoulders 
is a No. 1 large Coon, and one that will stretch over 
a board that is about 8% in. at the butt and about 
6V2 in. at the shoulders is a No. 2 ; one that is about 
8 in. at butt and 5% in. at shoulders should be a 
No. 3. And if your skin is fairly well furred, prime 
and well handled you should draw the first three 
figures on the price list. 

After stretching and fleshing them properly 
take your cloth and wipe the grease off from time 
to time and be careful and hang them, as before 
stated, in a dark cool airy place as they grease- 
burn easii3^ ^ 



CHAPTER XV. 

Grading and Sorting the Possum. 

There are two distinct kinds of Possum known 
to the furrier, the American and the Australian. 
The American is considered a shade the best. They 
are both used in the natural color after matching 
and are also dyed. They make a good useful fur, 
light and warm, and should command a better price. 
Closely allied to the Australian Possum is the Aus- 
tralian Kaola or "small bear" and the Wallaby, i. e. 
closely allied from the furrier's point of view, al- 
though this classification would not stand with the 
naturalist. These furs are graded very close by 
some buyers. Taking it by the large : A skin of any 
animal that is full furred is prime and a skin that is 
prime is full furred for that country or district 
where the fur was caught. But the buyers have 
many if 's and and's, and some go so far as to claim 
he contrary in regard to primeness and fur. I 
tijonestly believe that there is more jokeying done by 
the fur buyer and seller in buying Possum than any 



GRADING AND SORTING THE POSSUM. 59 

other fur, for I know that they are highly A^alued 
by the English furriers on account of their being 
light and warm and good to dye. A Possum that 
will stretch over a board that is iy2 in. diam. at the 
butt and 7 in. at the shoulders is a No. 1 large 
Possum, and one 7% in. at the butt and 6i/4 in. at 
the shoulders is a No. 2, and one 6i/> at the butt 
and 5% in. at the shoulders is a No. 3. And as be- 
fore stated, if the skin is prime and fairly well 
furred you should get tlie three first prices in the 
price list if you have stretched and cured your skin 
as before directed for other animals. Taking it by 
the large the possum is a southern fur and to the 
best of my belief should be marketed in St. Louis. 
I believe it is best for a southern trapper to market 
his fur in the south ; they are better understood by 
the southern buyer than by the northern. Some 
northern buyers won't buy any southern fur what- 
ever, and if they do they will grade it down pretty 
hard. They seem to be afraid of it for some 
reason although I don't know why they should. As 
a general thing a southern buyer appreciates good 
northern fur fully as well as the northern buyer, 
the latter only handling good northern skins and' 
having no southern skins to compare them with. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
The Lynx. 

Lynx are found all over the United States and 
North America. The furriers think it one of the 
most beautiful, soft and flowing fur; but it is a 
little tender and will not bear undue friction. It 
is considered a fine fur to dye, especially dark 
brown. Furriers split the skin up when making it 
into garments. Fur cut from the flanks is sold at a 
higher rate in the manufactured form than that cut 
from the back. Of course those from cold climates 
has a closer, also a rougher fur and is most esteem- 
ed by the furrier; it makes splendid and luxurious 
Iniings. They are graded the same as other fur as 
to size and quality: No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Of 
course when they get to the big mill, i. e. London, 
they are simply large and small, and the grade is 
judged simply by the district they come from. The 
-^ars are small and pointed and tipped with a pencil 

black hairs; the tail also is tipped with black, 
j-.ie color in winter is a silver gray on the back 



THE LYNX. 61 

shading to white on the belly. In summer they take 
on a reddish color. There is a sort of rufl or long 
fur on the side of the face near the throat. If the 
trapper should catch a Lynx and he weighs from 
25 to 30 pounds and his skin will stretch over a 
board that is about 9i4 in. at the butt and 7V2 in. 
the shoulders, if he is nice and prime, you have a 
No. 1 large Lynx, and one that will stretch over a 
board 8% in. at the butt and 6% in. at the shoulders 
is a No. 2, and one that will stretch over a board 
8 in. at the butt and about 6 in. at the shoulders is 
a No. 3, and other things being equal, you should 
get the three top prices. If you have trapped this 
fine fur before it is prime you should not get a red 
cent. And as before stated in this book : LTsually 
"si prime skin is full furred and a full furred skin is 
prime." You can use this same set of boards for 
your Bob Cats, taking No. 2 for your No. 1 Bob Cac. 
The grades run about the same as for Lynx. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Bear and Mountain Lion, Moose, Etc. 

As a general rule the trapper can do better with 
the taxidermist on these skins for rugs than the fur 
buyers. The fur buyer usually sells to them quite 
a few, provided the skins are handled right. But 
they must be handled right. In skinning these ani- 
mals cut from the (and including) soles of the hind 
feet to the vent on inside of the leg, then straight up 
the belly to the throat. Not cut from the fore foot 
straight across the body to the foot on the other 
side, skin out the foot carefully and leave the claws 
on, skin out the head carefully,'^' leaving the ears, 
eyes and lashes on the hide, also the muzzle of the 
nose. If a Moose or Caribou or Deer, leave the feet 



* In skinning out horned heads for mounting 

cut straight across from one horn to the other at 

the base, then cut straight down the top of the neck 

)rming the letter T. Don't cut on the under side 

Oj. the neek; also clean and preserve the leg bones. 



BEAR AND MOUNTAIN LION, MOOSE, ETC. 63 

on. If not freezing, salt the hide well, taking care to 
rub plenty in about the ears, nose and feet. Fold 
the skin so the flesh will be next to flesh. Start at 
the head and roll the skin up so the tail will be last. 
Keep in a cool place ; if it is freezing so much the 
better. After the hide is rolled up let it freeze stiff 
and keep it frozen — and notify several taxidermists 
of the size, length of fur etc., asking him of course 
what it is worth to him. Take the skull, remove the 
brains and boil it good and clean of all flesh, and 
state in your letter that you have the skull nice and 
clean to ship with the skin. If flies are apt to light 
on the skin dust some black pepper on and they will 
quit. After a few days unroll the skin, clean off 
all salt and brine that may have formed and apply 
a good stiff dose of salt and pulverized alum and 
roll it up again. The alum sets the hair so it won't 
shed and the salt preserves the skin if kept in a cool 
place until you ship it, and does not hurt the hide 
any whatever for the taxidermist, the traveling 
buyer to the contrary notwithstanding. You will 
get much more for these kinds of pelt by selling 
them this way. Trappers seldom if ever get what 
these skins are worth. It might surprise some O) 
them to know that good Black Beaar skins brougl^ 



64 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

$60 in 1902 at the London Sales. The long haired, 
black bears are the ones I have reference to. 
Grizzleys are mostly used for rugs, robes etc.. after 
they leave the London Sales. The poorer grades of 
bear skins are sold and used in Germany to make 
brushes, the ones with no underfur. Remove the 
brain from the back of the skull, do not break or 
smash in the frontal bone to remove them. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Shedders, Etc. 

The meaning of the word "shedder" is that an 
animal has lost some part of his coat by rubbing 
and shedding his fur. Some claim that as soon as 
an animal has reached its best as regards fur it com- 
mences to go the other way immediately. I hardly 
believe this. I believe fur stays at its best until the 
weather conditions tells nature to change its dress. 
I do not believe that as soon as nature has clothed 
her children in a good warm garment that she im- 
mediately proceeds to undress them again, no mat- 
ter what the weather? But as warm weather draws 
nigh the fur turns some lighter and begins to fall 
out. Mink are said by some to shed first and north- 
ern mink is singled out as the first, regardless of 
the fact that warm weather is a month earlier in the 
south. This is claimed to be the case that mink 
begin to shed in January and February, which in 
the north is hardly probable. They have a begin 
ning time, but not so early as the above, and I be- 



66 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

lieve the weather governs this matter. The appear- 
ance of a shedding skin is, the fnr looks thin and 
holding it up to the light you will notice this fact 
by holding the fur side toward the light and look- 
ing from the flesh side. But before you pronounce 
judgment hold a full furred prime skin in the same 
manner and compare them. On a fox look at the 
rump and neck, as there are the places it begins to 
shed first and wear the fur off the thighs. On the 
Fisher the belly becomes bare first, same with the 
skunk. The shedder is the nightmare of the buyer's 
life, as the trapper thinks he has been skinned as 
well as he skinned the animal. The honest dealer 
usually allows more than they are worth in order 
not to lose the customer, and the result is both are 
dissatisfied. The best way out of it is for the trap- 
per to quit trapping as soon as he sees any sign of 
shedding. It is a sure thing that if a dealer pays 
top prices he wants a prime, well furred skin 
and the trapper wants the prime price — and no 
matter how honest a dealer is he cannot suit all 
his customers. Some will yell "Robbed" when per- 
naps he really got more than his skins were worth, 
and the man who really did get robbed says noth- 
ing. All fur buyers are not robbers, neither are 



SHEDDERS, ETC. 67 

they all honest. They run (by the large) the same 
as all the rest of human nature, some good, some 
bad, and all, trappers included, looking for their 
own ends. This is natural. But one thing 1 wish 
to state here, i. e. that if your animal is prime and 
well furred the color makes no difference whatever, 
as this is all changed when it gets to the furrier's 
and dyer's hands. And this color nonsense is only 
used to put up or down the price of a fur by the 
trapper or buyer, with one exception, and that is 
dark mink caught in the .north eastern states and 
along the north shore of Lake Superior and west 
into the Rainy Lake region of Minnesota. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Selling. 

Here is where the trapper and the buyer come to 
the parting of their ways. A trapper sends fur to 
a strange firm with the understanding that he is to 
hold them until the trapper or seller accepts or re- 
jects the offer made. Now the slip comes and the 
seller is not satisfied and orders his fur returned. 
After a time he gets a letter saying the fur has gone 
into the general stock and cannot be found. Some- 
times this is true and sometimes it is an excuse to 
rob the seller. Then again perhaps the dealer is 
honest and has sent the seller all his skins are worth 
— and the seller not being a judge of his fur or his 
own property thinks he has been skinned, for prob- 
ably he has received several price lists and, being 
no judge^ thinks his skins are all No. 1 prime when 
they are probably not. His big mink perhaps is not 
so full furred as the buyer thinks it should be, or is 
a little blue pelted and drops down into the No. 2's. 
Perhaps the No. 2 is a good skin, full furred and 



SELLING. 69 

prime and brings as much as his large mink. And 
the trapper thinks for sure he has got the hooks 
thrown into him. Then again perhaps the dealer is 
not over honest or is really a polite, well dressed 
sort of a porch climber or second story man, and 
the big mink is really a No. 1 prime skin — and there 
you are in a nut shell. 

Now I believe I have a way out of this Avhich I 
will here explain. I will say to start, that the 
nearer the trapper can get to the consumer the 
better, and this is the manufacturer. If the 
seller is some farmer's boy and has only a couple 
of rats and a skunk or two and a mink, he 
had better not bother much but sell to a traveling 
buyer ; but if he is a real trapper Avith a line of from 
60 to 150 traps and has a fair bunch of fur, well 
stretched and cured, let him grade them into Nos. 
1, 2 and 3 of each kind taking into consideration the 
fullness of the fur and the primeness (never mind 
the color). Now send a description of these skins 
to several manufacturers and buyers or fur houses 
whom you may have in mind and ask them what 
they will pay. After you have received your ans- 
wers select the highest bidder and if a stranger to 
you write him that inasmuch as you are both Strang- 



70 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

ers to each other and until you get acquainted 
would be object to calling at the express office and 
examine them in the presence of the agent and pay- 
ing C. 0. D. or refuse to take them? Now if your 
bidder is an honest man he will have no objections 
to this. If he has, don't ship them, but if he says to 
ship, wrap your furs up nicely in paper and put 
them in a clean flour sack, take them to the express 
agent, tell him the circumstances, and he will mark 
your package (C. 0. D. with privilege to examine 
in presence of the express agent) and that settles it. 
The agent at the buyer's end of the line lets the 
buyer examine the skins before paying for them. 
If he refuses them the express agent sends them 
back to the office from whence they came and no 
harm is done as the express company has to stand 
any loss. I sincerely believe this is the best way for 
all concerned. 

I have laying before me a letter from a trapper 
who traps quite extensively in Canada and buys a 
few furs, and I will give a few extracts from his 
letter, also his mode of selling which I think is good. 

"In reply to yours will say, I have not shipped 
any fur to the States this fall. I sell my fur direct 



SELLING. Ti- 
to the manufacturer and I thus receive a much bet- 
ter price I get a lot of price lists from firms in 

the States quoting $8.50 for No. 1 prime mink, and 
this firm adds that they pay all express charges on 
all shipments. And no wonder! I received right 
here $12.00 for No. 1 prime mink, $10.00 for No. 2 
and $8.00 for No. 3. that is for large, medium and 
small. I sold in December last $975.00 worth of fur. 

Had I been foolish enough to send this fur to , 

I would have lost at least $275.00. Little wonder 

they would pay the express charges I am well 

aware how some of my friends have been fooled by 
some firms who promise to hold shipments until you 

accept their offer They never return the furs, 

they have a hundred and one excuses etc., and the 
sum is that our trapper gets it in the neck and has 

to accept what he gets The way I handle my 

fur is as follows : I trap only when fur is prime and 
what little I buy must be of first class grade. I pay 
the settler a high price for his prime fur, and they 
soon learn that a prime mink or otter is worth more 
than three common ones. I usually spend two 
months hunting and trapping each fall and when I 
come across a good pelt I buy it ; but I trap most of 
my fur According to my experience different 



7 2 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

firms have different grades. What one firm will 

call No. 1 another will call No. 2 Many living 

in the same city quote different prices on the same 
fur. and that millions of dollars are stolen each year 
from the trappers both in the United States and 
Canada. Such a condition of things will exist until 
the trappers take their furs to the cities to sell them 
themselves ; it will more than pay them their extra 

car fare and expense When I have a lot of fur 

I fix a price on them. I then go to the dealers and 
show them the goods ; if the firm finds the price too 
high I go to the next one, and if none are willing to 
pay what I ask I leave my card with each firm and 
invariably I get my price. And invariably I never 
have enough to meet the demand about Christmas 
time. ' ' 

Now the man that sent me this letter is an old 
trapper and collector, also a good business man, 
and to the best of my belief speaks from experience. 
I believe his views are good and I believe what he 
says is true. But one thing a trapper or collector 
should always bear in mind, i. e. that any kind of 
fur that is selling slow and no demand for it, the 
buyers will grade it down for all the trapper and 



SELLING. 73 

collector Avill stand, and I cannot too strongly re- 
commend to trapper and collector to adopt this way 
of selling their fur either through the Express Co. 
or as the Canada man recommends. But taken by 
the large the Express Co. will save you traveling to 
the city and its accompanying expenses. Of course 
if you have been dealing with an old established 
house and they have always treated you right it 
would be foolish for you to change a certainty for 
an uncertainty; but the system that I recommend, 
i. e. selling through the express companies, is best 
when dealing with strangers. 

A trapper should never attempt to tan skins of 
any kind if he is going to sell them, as every furrier 
usually has some fur tanning and dressing company 
whom he would have much rather tan his furs, as 
he is acquainted with his particular work and it 
gives satisfaction. Another thing, there is not the 
money made nowadays that there used to be in days 
gone by in buying furs. I know of an extensive 
traveling buyer who buys every season and loses 
money sometimes as well as makes a little some- 
times. It is not always smooth sailing for the buyer 
by a long ways. I have looked into the matter and 
investigated considerable and have about come to 



7 4 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

the conclusion that the money is made after the 
manufacturer gets the skins, and between him and 
the store that sells them to the consumer the most 
money is made. I know that the big department 
stores figure on 33 1/3 per cent net profit, although 
they have some special sales to make a noise where 
they sell a certain line at about what it cost them 
plus the labor and shrinkage ; but never in good 
garments does this occur. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Stretching and Curing. 

No trapper or collector can expect or has any 
right to expect top prices for his skins unless they 
are well handled, stretched and cured. If a trapper 
thinks he can stretch a skin any old way and get 
first class price he will be disappointed and rightly 
so. If his skins are unprime or caught before prim- 
ing he will come a long way from getting first 
money. If his skins are not full furred from being 
caught too early, he cannot expect first money, nor 
if the skins are shedders as before explained, nor if 
his skins ore mouldy or mildewed. Taking it by the 
large, a skin that is jirime is full furred and a skin 
that is full furred is prime for the district it came 
from. Yet in some few and isolated cases this will 
not hold good. Some fur bearers from being poi- 
soner are thin furred especially where the poison 
did not kill, then disease or some kind of sickness 



7 6 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

that gets among" them and they fail to fur out al- 
though the skins are full prime. But these are rare 
cases and the veriest tyro or greenhorn can tell 
these after seeing one. But if the trapper or col- 
lector has a bunch of No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 prime 
furs he should get the top market price and not be 
swindled out of part of his profits by some jokey 
fur house or buyer. If the trapper will follow the 
instructions here mentioned under the chapter of 
''Selling" he will get what his furs are worth and 
if he is too slack or careless to do this then let him 
take his medicine and keep his mouth shut. 

In regard to the sections from which skins come 
from I believe that there is more made of this than 
there is call for. Of course skins do not fur so full 
in the south, yet they make up for this in a Avay by 
being larger. Sometimes you will strike a skin 
from the north that is not full furred because of in- 
sufficient food or starvation. Then a great cry is. 
made about colors as before stated, and I have it 
from first hand that it cuts no figure to speak of 
with the manufacturer, as the furrier and dyer have 
to match these skins by tipping or dyeing them any- 
how, otherwise they would not look presentable in 
fur garments. A good deal is said by buyers in re- 



STRETCHING AND CURING. 77 

gard to fleshing and scraping etc. I have laying 
before me, as I write this, a letter from one of the 
largest fur houses in the Northwest and I believe 
as square one as any of them, and they say: 

^ * # 

. . . ."On mink and marten skins Ave find no ad- 
vantage whatever in having them scraped, so there 
is no need to waste labor on them. If they are 
scraped too close as many do it is a positive in- 
jury." 

I have shown elsewhere that no sharper instru- 
ment should be used than the bowl of a table spoon 
and this not too freely. It is only the large chunks 
of flesh and grease that should be removed such as 
usually are found on skunk and coon; and as the 
fur dries and grease appears it should be wiped off 
with a clean rag. And as before stated hang your 
fur in a cool dark place where there is a circulation 
of air, if you possible can, and keep them there 
until they are dry enough to rattle when removed. 
Then take out the boards, tie the furs in bunches 
through the eye or nose, in bunches of 8 or 10, and 
hang them up in the same place or under the same 
conditions. In regard to stretching boards and 



78 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

sizeS;, I believe there are none better than Morton's* 
patterns of which he sends ont hundreds to buyers 
and trappers. They have been adopted by nearly 
all of the large trappers and many of the better 
class of fur buyers and fur houses. The trapper 
and collector will make no mistake in using them 
for size and length. Don't stretch your fur too 
tight as it is better to have a No. 2 well furred than 
a No. 1 poorly furred, and you can make the fur thin 
by overstretching. Tie a string through the lower 
lip and nose of the skin when puttiug it on the 
board and sew up any shot or bullet holes, pull it 
down on the board fairly tight and even and tack 
Avith galvanized iron tack. Make your stretching 
boards of not thicker tha,n % inch lumber, planed 
smooth and the edges nicely rounded. One can 
often pick out boxes at^ a grocery store that will 
make good stretchers. Make your Avedges as all the 
rest of your boards by the Morton pattern and you 
will make no mistake. As regards large animal 
skins, as before stated in this book, the taxidermist 
is the proper place to market them. 



# n 



^' C. F. Morton, Newburyport, Mass. 



STRETCHING AND CURING. 79 

It is not half a bad idea for the trapper to learn 
tanning himself. Get a book on tanning and ex- 
periment on cat and No. 3 or cull rat skins ; but 
friend, don't start in on a nice No. 1 prime mink 
as I did once 15 years ago. Most of the recipes 
given are worthless. Then again your chemicals 
may not be of the be'st as the drug stores do not 
always handle the pure goods. These things you 
will have to try out for yourself. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

General Remarks. 

Sorting. 

In this book I have shown the sorting that is 
made at the London Sales, i. e. large and small. 
I have serious donbts if it is any more fair and jnst 
to the trapper than our way of grading into three 
sizes. For instance supposing we are sorting a 
bundle of skins, we lay aside a couple of No. 1 large 
prime well furred ; we now come to a No. 2 prime 
or in other words it is smaller than our No. 1 and 
larger than our No. 3, now where is this skin going? 
If it goes into the No. 1 pile we are winner, if it 
goes into the No. 3's we are loser, so it is an even 
chance. But here is another case where we win. 
Supposing we come to a No. 1 large, it is a little 
blue pelted and not too full furred; in London this 
skin would surely go into the No. 1 large, while 
here in this country it w^ould surely drop down into 
the No. 2's and perhaps the No. 3's or be cut in 



GENERAL REMARKS. 81 

price instead. Now I wish to here state : There 
seems to be no uniform size or grade in this country 
among buyers and manufacturers. Each have a 
different system and some no system whatever, only 
to skin the seller. I have been in a town where 
there are several manufacturers. Each had a dif- 
ferent system and size and tried to do the scjuare 
thing at that. As before stated in this book, color 
should cut little figure (not over 5 per cent on a 
prime skin) whatever, let it be light or dark. Mink 
are usually some of the shades of brown, and if 
you are selling to a man who goes to grading you 
down on colors, the sooner you quit him the better 
for yourself. I will here state that there seem to 
be mink that are found along the 45th parallel and 
as far west on this parallel as Wisconsin, then on the 
46th and 47th as far west as western central Min- 
nesota. These mink are small, dark and have very 
fine full fur. The Nos. 1 will stretch over our No. 2 
board and the Nos. 2 over our No. 3 board and they 
should bring a better price than our Nos. 1, 2 and 3, 
not on account of their color so much as the fine 
full silky underfur. Another thing: If the buyer 
grades your skins down because they are caught in 
the coast states and the skins are prime and full 



82 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

furred ,or fairly full furred as they will be unless 
caught where the rainy season prevails in winter, 
quit him, for he isn't giving you a square deal. I 
heard of a case where a fur house call skins caught 
in the Panhandle of Idaho, Pacific coast skins and 
graded them down fierce. This could not be done 
if sold by express, as I have explained before in this 
book. In grading skunk you must keep in mind the 
stripes as well as size. For instance if a skunk is a 
No. 1 large and is wide long striper it will have to 
step down into the No. 2 on account of the stripes, 
even though it is well fured. But if you have a 
No. 2 for size and it is black it should go up into 
the No. 1 pile etc. We give a picture of the differ- 
ent stripes. 

Perhaps the best way is to sort your skunk first 
for stripes : Black, short stripe, narrow stripe and 
wide stripe, making four piles. Now sort these piles 
for Nos. 1, 2 and 3, i. e. No. 1 short stripe, No. 2 
short. No. 3 short and so on through the four piles. 
I assume the trapper has trapped his fur after they 
are prime and furred, and not cut down his profits ■ 
from 50 per cent to 70 per cent by trapping out of 
season. You can apply this same system to all your 
fur. Rats, Coon, Fox, Mink etc., with the exception 



GENERAL REMARKS. 83 

of course that the above have no stripes like skunk. 
Also sort 3^our Otter for thickness of fur, more than 
for size, i e. if you have a large Otter and a medium 
one — if the medium one has a fine coat of underfur 
and the No. 1 large would simply be medium well 
furred, your medium or No. 2 should go No. 1. An- 
other thing : A shipper should bear in mind that it 
is not always the proprietor of^ a house that sorts 
the fur, but some employee who wishes to make 
himself solid for his job ; but the proprietor is res- 
ponsible just the same. 

In getting the facts for this book I have been 
collecting data and probed deep for a long time, and 
I hope I have shown the collector and trapper how 
to market his skins to the best advantage, and will 
say once more : That I have assumed that the trap- 
per has sense enough to trap only when fur is prime. 
I have said nothing about blue, thin furred skins for 
the reason that there is no more sense in trapping 
fur when it is unprime than there is in picking 
apple blossoms from an apple tree before the apples 
form and ripen. As before stated in this book, if 1 
was buying fur and a trapper sent me blue skins 
I would throw them in the fire and send him a bill 
for the express an^ my trouble. I have said little 



84 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

about length. As a skin that will stretch comfort- 
ably over a "Morton" three piece stretching board 
of any of his No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 sizes for differ- 
ent animals, when properly pulled down and tacked 
at the tail, edges and sides, the length will take care 
of itself. Stretch your skins comfortably tight, but 
don't strain and pull them so as to make the under- 
fur look thin. * 

I suppose there will be exceptions taken by both 
buyer and seller in regard to grading for either 
light or dark colors. I will here state that my 
;authority on this subject is a very large buyer of 
furs at the London, Leipsig and Russian sales. He 
is also a large manufacturer and dyer, resides in 
England, is on the job all the time and knows what 
he is talking about. I cite this man as an authority 
for the reason that we cite the London and Leipsig 
sales, where he buys, for our prices. It seems to be 
the clearing house for the fur business and England 
for dyeing and dressing. All or most of our seal- 
skins are dyed in London. In my opinion no coun- 
try can beat them at this business. When our cot- 
ton mink get to the English dye house they come 



Fur is not sold by the yard. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 8 5 

out as good as any of their more aristocratic broth- 
ers. Therefore I say that grading down good prime 
and well underfurred skins on account of color is 
humbug. 

I have made no mention of Beaver in this book 
for the reason that it is against the law to catch or 
kill them in most parts of our United States. 

A word here seems to be in order in regard to 
time to begin trapping. It seems to be the opinion 
of nearly all the better class of trappers and fur 
buyers that in the central and south central sections 
trapping should not commence until Dec. 1st and in 
central and north central sections not before Nov. 
15th, extreme north Oct. 15th to Nov. 15th, and for 
extreme south Dec. 1st to 15th. Of course some 
skins will be prime before this in all these sections, 
but the animal caught probably don't know the 
difference and you will get same unprime, this cut- 
ting down your profits- 50 per cent. And as animals 
of the fur tribe mate about March 1st it is obvious 
that you should c^uit February 29th at the latest if 
you want any skins for the next season. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Northern vs. Southern Fur. 

It had always been a question in my mind iP 
there was as much difference in the quality of 
northern and southern fur as the fur buyers made 
out there was. Having never seen much southern 
fur, and in order to investigate this matter thor- 
oughly, I had to do as I did in regard to the wheat 
grading, i. e. I sought and obtained employment in 
a large fur dressing and dyeing establishment as a 
common hand or laborer, and then I began to find 
out ^'somc things" as the Dutchman says. This 
firm would receive as high as 6000 Muskrats at a 
time and from ^2000 to 4000 Mink at a time besides 
Bear, Beaver, Otter, Marten, Fox, Stone Marten, 
Skunk, Wombat from Australia, Weasel and in 
fact every conceivable kind of fur skins (barring 
sealskins) from the far North, East, South and 
West. My first move was to get next to the head 
furrier, which I soon did. I also found that south- 
ern muskrats are far inferior to northern, even at 



NORTHERN VS. SOUTHERN PURS. 8 7 

their best. Beaver and Otter seem to hold up the 
best and come the nearest to northern quality, but 
the inferiority showed some considerable in Mink, 
Wolf and Coon, and of the AVolf we received stacks, 
both summer caught and winter caught, scalped and 
unscalped (for the bounty). The next question was 
to find out how far south we could go and find 
northern quality of fur. I probed deep into this 
matter as I had a splendid chance to do so, having 
the privilege to examine more skins in a month 
than the average collecter and buyer sees in a life- 
time. Taking it by the large you can start and 
draw a line on the map starting at the extreme 
southern point of Connecticut, draw a line straight 
west to a little south of Columbus, Ohio, then north- 
west to about north central Indiana, then next to 
about north central Illinois, then southwest to north 
central Missouri, then west to central Colorado, 
then north to the southwest corner of Wyoming, 
then northwest through south central Idaho and 
Oregon to the Pacific ocean. Fur caught much 
south of this line, at their best, are inferior to one's 
caught north of it, taking it by the large and not 
splitting hairs. For some reason Rats and Mink 
caught south of central Ohio and Indiana are what 



88 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

the fur dresser or tanner would call ''soft,'' i. e. 
thin leather, thin underfur and tear easy. Rats 
from Delaware and New Jersey hold up in quality 
with fur caught north of there ; but with Coyote, 
Wolf, southern Kansas, Colorado and Nevada hold 
up better than other furs. Southern Pennsylvania 
skins make a poor showing with northern Pennsyl- 
vania skins. Altitude don't seem to make as much 
difference as some think, as fur caught at sea level 
in a cold climate seems to be as well furred as fur 
caught at a high altitude. If any of the readers 
care to test this out ,he can easily do so by taking 
a cased skin of any kind, cutting it open on the 
belly (cutting from the flesh side) and from the chin 
to the tail, the same as the fur dresser does. If you 
have done this with both a northern and a southern 
skin and they are laying before you flesh side up, 
and other things being equal, note first the differ- 
ence in the length of the fur, second the difference 
in thickness, third the difference in the color along 
the edge of the cut you made in opening of the skin. 
This will tell you the whole story in regard to 
Northern and Southern skins. 

I found in my investigation that nearly all of 
our cheap furs are made out of Possum skins, dyed, 



NORTHERN VS. SOUTHERN PURS. 89 

and very low grades of Fox and Wolf, the better 
grades being used for higher priced fur. I also 
found that some cities use hardly anything and 
don't want any skins but low grades and culls. I 
cannot account for this in any other way than the 
furriers or manufacturers of these kinds of goods 
are located in large manufacturing cities, and most 
of their customers are salaried people or working 
people and not the "Big Business" people who can 
pay the price; hence the cheap skins. I also found 
more rabbits being tanned and worked into fur than 
one would suppose, also many brown weasel. I also 
found many Coon being plucked and being made 
into collars, also that a ver}^ superior grade of Coon 
came from Iowa. The fur dresser calls them "blue 
Coon," a name of his own invention, the fur seem- 
ing to have a blueish shade when compared with, 
other Coon from the same district. 
I It might interest the readers to know that nearly 
all our seal skins are bought, dyed and dressed by 
a family by the name of Rice in England, the dye- 
ing of these skins being a family secret and handed 
down from father to son. 
"^ Thinking it might benefit the readers of this 
work, I obtained prices for tanning single skins and 



90 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING FURS. 

small lots, should any one wish some. Skins tanned 
and dressed for their own use. All fur skins shrink 
€j[uite a little in tanning and dressing. 

Bear, $3.00 to $6.00 each. (For rugs, head and 
claws). 

Deer, $1.00. (For rugs, no buckskin dressed). 

Dogs, 50c. (Rugs $1.00). 

Wild Cat, 50c. (Rugs, head and claws, 75c'). 

House Cat, 12c. 

Lynx, 75c. (Rugs, head and claw^s, $1.25.) 

Squirrel, 8c. 

Otter, 75c. (Plucked $1.00.) 

Red Fox, 50c. (Rugs, head and claws, 75c.) 

Grey Fox, 35c. (Rugs, head and claws, 70c.) 

White Fox, 75c. (Rugs, head and claws, $1.00.) 

Mink, open, 20e. 

Mink, cased, 25c. 

Coon, 20c. 

A¥olf, Timber, $1.00. (Rugs, head and claws, 
$1.25.) 

Coyote, 50c.. (Rugs, head and claws, 75c.) 

Badger, 25c. 

Muskrat, 15c. 

Possum. 15c. 

Beaver, dressed and plucked, $1.00. 



NORTHERN VS. SOUTHERN FURS. 91 

Mountain Lion (Rugs, Head and claws, $2.50). 

This firm does splendid work, guarantees all 
work and makes good any losses through bad work 
or otherwise, and does dressing and tanning for 
some of the largest manufacturers in the United 
States. As I have before stated in this book, it will 
pay the southern trapper best to market his fur in 
the south as it is better understood there. 

# * # 

It was of great interest to me to know^ how Col. 
Roosevelt's skins were preserved, being killed in a 
hot climate and no season when fur was prime that 
I know of. I had formed the opinion that it must 
be somewhat of a job to preserve them until they 
reached the United States from the African jungles. 
I therefore wrote the Smithsonian Institute at 
Washington, D. C, inquiring into this matter and 
received the following reply. I also wrote them for 
a formula for tanning fur skins. 

Smithsonian Institute, U. S. National Museum. 
Washington, D. C, Apr. 11th, 1910. 
Mr. A. F. Wallace. 
Dear Sir : — 
Hon. Wm. J. Gary, M. C, has referred your let- 
ter to us of April 3rd containing the request for in- 



9 2 GRADING, SORTING AND CURING PURS. 

formation as to the kind of brine which is used hy 
the Smithsonian Institute for preserving skins of 
large animals collected by Colonel Roosevelt in 
South Africa. In reply I beg to say that the brine 
is ordinary Rock Salt brine. 

Very respectfully, 

W. RAVENEL, 

Administrative Asst. 



The tanning for the Smithsonian Institute is 
done by an outside firm, and their formula is pri- 
vate property and of course cannot be published. 
The skins were put up in barrels the same as meat 
is in brine. The Roosevelt collection of furs or 
skins was the most perfect ever received there and 
arrived in perfect condition. Therefore according 
to the above evidence I do not believe salting fur 
hurts them in the least, providing brine is used. 
The collector to the contrary notw^ithstanding. If 
"t was a warm season and I had any skins, Moose, 
Bear, Deer, Elk, etc., I should not hesitate one min- 
ute to use this method. But bear one thing in 
mind: Use Rock Salt and not the stuff sold out of 
grocery stores called table salt; this stuff won't do. 
The packing houses all use Rock Salt to preserve 



NORTHERN VS. SOUTHERN PURS. 93 

their meat and no other. I hope this will be of use 
to trappers and. collectors alike. 

A salted skin should not be let dry and become 
hard, but be kept damp and limber or frozen after 
coming out of the brine, for dry salted fur don't 
tan good and the collector is within his rights when 
not paying full price. 

This book will be revised from time to time as 
the circumstances demand. 

Very truly yours, 

A. F. WALLACE. 



Perhaps you have read "Land Cruising and Prospecting." 
If so you notice I mentioned my old pard, i. e. "Moulton," one of 
the best trappers in the west for his particular animals. While 
on a visit to his sister last year I obtained the formulas for 
making his scent baits. Also I knew before of his methods for 
trapping mink all winter, both vmder the ice and on snow, for he 
used the trap after everything froze up tight. He often told me 
that water sets were all rigitit for new beginners. He trapped 
Miink, Otter, Beaver and Muskrats in water, on snow and under 
the ice all winter long and made his best catches after it was 
frozen hard and way below Zero. Moulton's trapping was done in 
tlie Bad Lands, Dakotas, Yellow Stone river and its branches, also 
on the upper Missouri where animals were more shy of human 
beings, than tliey are now in a cultivated country. I have never 
seen these sets or scents in any "Trappers' Guides Magazines" or 
in print. If any trapper wants to try tliem and is not satisfied 
I will return him his money. 

Mink Scent Formula -jOc 

(Tlie methods of setting go with tliis formula free.) 
Otter Scent Formula 50c 

(The metliods of setting go with this formula free.) 
Muski-at Scent Formula 50c 

(The methods of setting go with this formula free.) 
Beaver Scent Formula 50c 

(The methods of setting go with tliis formula free.) 
*Prairie Wolf Scent Formula 50c 

(The methods of setting go with this formula free.) 
*Timber Wolf Scent Formula 50c 

(The methods of setting go with this formula free.) 

These were Moulton's 6 specialties and he was successful with 
them. 1 used tlie Mink a-nd Rat scent and methods last winter 
, and cleaned up all the water I trapped on. I do not cai-e to be 
bothered with making tlie scent, so I send the formula or recipe, 
assuming the trapper is not fool enough to give it away and spoil 
his own business. I include the methods of setting with each 
formula free, as the scents to be at their best require the proper set. 

A. F. WALLACE, 

472 WALKER ST. MILWAUKEE. WIS. 

To all Prospectors, Land Cruisers, Trappers and Hunters — - 
send for our catalogue of our Compasses and Maps for your use. 



* This is not the U. S. Government formula ; I consider Moul- 
ton's much better. 



TRAPPERS AND DEALERS 

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